David Tan's List: BEPS

• #1: Understanding existing and emerging technologies
• Winning the game requires that you not only keep your eye on the ball but also anticipate what the next pitch will be.

• #2: Designing technical architecture
• while every organization has some unique processes, most operational procedures are fairly common and can be addressed with configurable commodity solutions.
• Many architectures can be based on buying and assembling a fairly small number of pre-existing components rather than trying to reinvent a better mousetrap

• #3: Integrating systems
• Any organization that has an architecture populated by legacy systems (and who doesn't) can improve productivity through better movement of data through those applications.
• As products and platforms continue to proliferate and as companies increasingly connect their systems with others, high quality interoperability is imperative.

• #4: Understanding business practices, approaches, organization, politics, and culture
• although much about organizational dynamics is generic, transferable knowledge, it's foolish to think that success in one corporate environment guarantees success in another. We must learn the idiosyncracies of each new environment

• #5: Managing projects; planning, prioritizing, and administering work
• plan your work for the short and long term
• Ask a lot of questions that begin with "what" and "how.
• every IT professional is actually a consultant.
• know your customers' business at least as well as they do, and that means listening.

• #7: Focusing on results
• ability to execute.
• knowing some key facts about your customer, like who are they and what do they want?
• ultimately it's up to your customer--your boss, your co-worker, your team leader, whoever is the ultimate consumer of your efforts--to make the decisions,
• Don't let analysis paralysis slow you down and don't indulge yourself in a quixotic crusade to achieve some random level of perfection.

• #8: Thinking strategically
• IT professionals are service providers, and we must think of ourselves as such.
• Get intimate with your company's business and strategic plans and constantly strive to come up with ways of supporting and furthering those plans.

  • Without this alignment we will never deliver solutions that are aligned with the goals and strategies of the business. MYOBs strategeis are reflected in the operating plans and initiatives of the busines Divisions in all locations
• High functioning, highly successful IT departments are proactive, working consultatively and collaboratively with their business customers in pursuit of overall corporate goals and objectives.
• Direct management has been supplanted by influence management.
• Influence and persuasion are among the key skills that drive collaborative work environments.

• #10: Being adaptable

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• • Lack of budget/resources (45%)
   
  • Lack of strategy (31%)
   
  • Siloed organization (29%)
   
  • Lack of understanding (25%)
   
  • Too much data (18%)
   
  • Lack of senior management buy-in (18%)
   
  • Difficulty reconciling data (17%)
   
  • IT blockages (17%)
   
  • Lack of trust in analytics (16%)
   
  • Finding staff (12%)
   
  • Poor technology (9%)
• the top ten barriers have absolutely no connection to features, and barely have any connection to tools.
• Tools can provide a marginal advantage to a company of any size. But given where we are in our evolutionary stage we have much bigger fish to fry.
• Start for free and earn your right to ask for budget.
• Don’t focus on the value of the tool. Quantify the value of the outcome you will deliver.
• Enroll your Customers and Competitors to help you
• If you are at a large company with many divisions etc and no consensus, then try to pick one division/country and make them a hero. Don’t try to get everyone to agree on a set of metrics.
• silo’s can break if you are able to show value
• Start small. Show some value. Go bigger

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